The true Ark of the Covenant

It’s here. It’s finally here. A half-month of lost productivity, illegal betting, and Cinderella stories starts now. Check out BlogDailyHerald’s predictions below.

Midwest Region

The shoo-ins: Not many potential first-round upsets here. Both Middle Tennessee and St. Mary’s are pretty dangerous for First Four teams, so they might give Memphis a run for their money, but I’m going all top seeds in the first round. Don’t listen to any talk about Valparaiso as a potential Cinderella, Tom Izzo has the Spartans way too well-prepared—he always does—for them to lose so early.

The upsets: Creighton over Duke, second round. I’m sorry, I can’t help but root against Coach K and whoever happens to be playing for him. This is how much I don’t like Duke. Makes my day every time. For real, though, Doug McDermott has been averaging 23.1 points per game (2nd in Division I) with a near 50% 3-point shooting percentage. He’s my pick for mid-major breakout player of the tournament (see below). Also, as I mentioned before, Memphis might have trouble with its play-in opponent, but this is sadly a kind of boring bracket, especially compared with the South. Though Oregon is the Pac-12 champ, I don’t think this is the 5-12 upset to pick.

Player to watch: Wooden Award finalist Doug McDermott of Creighton. Just like Jimmer and Gordon Hayward before him, this guy is due to become a household name. Don’t expect him to carry the Bluejays to the national championship, but they might have an upset or two in them.

Regional champ: There are three perennial superpowers in this region, but Louisville isn’t #1 overall for nothing. The team is coming off a huge Big East Tournament victory over Syracuse, and there aren’t many teams who can stop them. Look for them to bounce Michigan State in the Elite 8 and maybe even take the whole thing.

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All the loyal readers of this column out there (hi, mom and dad!) might agree that last week’s post, an open letter to head basketball coach Mike Martin ’94, was a high point in professionalism and gravitas for Sixth Man. In the interest of balance, then, this week will mark a low point. I confess, dear readers, that I was too busy this weekend raging face catching up on The Wire to catch any of our many exciting sporting events. But, as an ever-dedicated journalist wanting to have a column for this week, I made up for it by spending my Sunday night completely alone in the bleachers of Pizzitola, watching the intramural basketball finals for all three divisions (High, Mid, Low). Here are summaries of the riveting action.

This is exactly how it went down.

LOW

Final Score: Scorgasms 37, Schrodinger’s Balls 24 (score approximate, forgot to write it down until a few hours later)

Recap: The Scorgasms, a group of eight seniors (including a girl, the only championship team to have one), used their superior outside game and non-receding hairlines to triumph over the physics grad students representing Schrodinger’s Balls. Schrodinger’s Balls gameplan of “give it to our one bearded big guy, Beardsie” was eventually detected and neutralized by the four Scorgasms who quadruple-teamed Beardsie, helping the Scorgasms pull away in the second half.

They Said It (Winner Edition): “I’m glad I won a[n intramural champion] shirt as a senior. Definitely on my bucket list.”–Wooyoung Moon ’13

They Said It (Loser Edition): “We don’t want to be quoted.”–Beardsie [grad year unknown]

They Said It (Ref Edition): “It was well-fought. I feel like [The Scorgasms] don’t even belong in the low division. They were pretty adept. They definitely deserved it.”–Danny Ecehvarria ’16, referee [Read more →]

Men’s basketball fell to No. 23 Harvard 68-59 on Saturday.

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In the 153rd showdown between the two schools, Bruno came away with its first victory since the 2001-02 season.

Photos by Sam Rubinroit/Herald.

Photos by Sam Rubinroit/Herald

Photos by Sam Rubinroit/Herald

Photos by Sam Rubinroit/Herald.

Brown Women’s Basketball Guard Lindsay Nickel had 11 Points on 3-5 3-Pt Shooting in the loss to Princeton last weekend.

Men’s Basketball

Record: (7-11, IVY 0-4) Last Game: L at Penn (80-78, OT)

Upcoming Schedule:

February 4^th: 7:00 PM V. Columbia (12-6); Last Game: W v. Dartmouth (66-45)

February 5^th: 7:00 PM V. Cornell (4-14); Last Game: L v. Harvard (78-57)

After a close loss at Penn in overtime, the Brown Men’s Basketball team looks to rebound with a weekend of games at home against IVY league opponents. The game against Columbia will be the first home game for the Bears, while classes are in session, since November 24^th. The large student turnout expected will hopefully give Brown the spark it has needed.   [Read more →]